plăcea

Inherited from Latin placēre. Compare Aromanian plac, placu.

• IPA^(key): /pləˈt͡ʃa/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

a plăcea (third-person singular present place, past participle plăcut) 2nd conj.

1. to please
2. to be pleasant, pleasing

A plăcea is usually translated to English with the verb to like. This causes confusion for some English speakers studying Romanian, because the subject and object of a plăcea are seemingly reversed from those of to like. That is, the subject of a plăcea is the thing that pleases and the (indirect) object is the person who is pleased. A commonly used method is to think of a plăcea as literally meaning to be pleasing to.

Îmi place să citesc. ― I like to read. (literally, “To me it pleases to read.”)

Îți place această friptură? ― Do you like this steak? (literally, “To you does it please this steak?”)

Mi-a plăcut filmul. ― I liked the film. (literally, “To me has pleased the film.”)

Ți-a plăcut înghețata? ― Did you like the ice cream? (literally, “To you has pleased the ice cream?”)

First- and second-person use is uncommon, but grammatically solid: îi plac (“he likes me”, literally “I please him”) is equivalent to îi place de mine (literally “it pleases him of me”).

• plăcere

• plăcea in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)